Media Release

THIS week, US President Donald Trump held an extraordinary interview. He
questioned whether injecting people with ‘disinfectants’ and exposing patients’
bodies to UV light could help treat the coronavirus.

The news went viral. People were bewildered, amused and
horrified that a world leader could seemingly endorse a ‘cure’ that few argue
would be at the very least, incredibly harmful, and at the worst fatal. They
don’t put poisons information on the side of bottles because of the design
aesthetic.

But one international community wasn’t surprised. The
autistic community, who have long since campaigned against abusive ‘treatments’
for autism, are well acquainted with ‘bleach cults’ and other groups who routinely[i] advocate for harmful
‘treatments’ for autistic children and adults.

Parents go to extreme lengths for a cure. Those cures range
from injecting or forcing children to ingest a bleach solution called Miracle
Mineral Solution, in the belief it will kill ‘ropeworms’ that ‘cause’ the
condition.

‘Ropeworms’ are not actual parasites, but intestinal lining
shed from the gut following the use of bleach enemas (sodium chlorite mixed
with citric acid, forming chlorine dioxide and marketed as MMS) and other
similarly ineffective and dangerous ‘cleanses’.

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network of Australia and New
Zealand (ASAN) spokesperson Katharine Annear, says that people preyed on
vulnerable parents whose children had an autism diagnosis and that the practice
was ‘incredibly dangerous.’

“What occurs when a child is diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum is that
parents go into a panic and they’re desperate for a solution.”

ASAN board member and disability advocate Samantha Connor
agrees.

‘Fear is a powerful motivator,’ she said.

‘The reasons parents go to extreme and dangerous lengths to
try harmful or dangerous quack ‘cures’ are the same reasons that a man died a month
ago after taking chloroquine phosphate, a chemical used to clean fish tanks.[1][2]’

Connor, ASAN AUNZ and other autistic advocates have long
campaigned against what they call ‘bleach cults’, including the group that
contacted President Donald Trump last week – the Genesis II ‘Church’ of Health
and Healing.[3]

The Guardian reported[4] last week that the
prominent group wrote to Trump, telling him that chlorine dioxide, an
industrial bleach, ‘is a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in
the body’ and can ‘rid the body of COVID-19’.

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration obtained a
federal court order banning Genesis II from selling MMS, which they described
as ‘an unproven and potentially harmful treatment for COVID-19’. The action follows
years of lobbying by autistic groups.

Genesis II has claimed to be able to cure all types of
cancer, ebola, malaria, HIV, autism and multiple sclerosis. It sells bottles of
sodium chlorite with mixing instructions as ‘sacramental cleansing water’.

In one promotional video, which claims to cure malaria
within two hours, an infant is shown being force fed a cup of the bleach. The
infant is screaming as the fluid is swallowed.

It’s not the first time a link has been established between
harmful approaches, autism and President Trump. In 2019, a measles outbreak
raged across a number of states in the country, forcing President Trump to urge
families to vaccinate their children.[5]

Prior to the election, he had alleged that there was a link
between vaccines and autism[6] – a link repeatedly
debunked by experts across the world.

Connor, who is a disability violence prevention activist,
holds concerns that official messaging in Australia has not adequately
addressed the public health risk.